What tests do you need to do if you have thyroid cancer

What tests do you need to do if you have thyroid cancer? The examination and diagnosis of thyroid cancer is an important part of treatment. It is indispensable for the treatment of any disease. Since the early symptoms of thyroid cancer are not obvious, the only way to confirm thyroid cancer is to rely on examination. So what tests do you need to do if you have thyroid cancer?

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The thyroid function tests of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer are mostly normal, but if it is transformed from other diseases such as hyperthyroidism or Hashimoto's thyroiditis, there will be corresponding thyroid function abnormalities.

B-ultrasound is very helpful for the diagnosis of differentiated thyroid cancer. Most differentiated thyroid cancers are solid masses in B-ultrasound, but some can also be mixed masses with solid components as the main component. Papillary thyroid carcinoma often shows low or very low echo in B-ultrasound, and there are often tiny calcifications or gravel-like calcifications in the substance, without acoustic shadows behind it; the shape of the mass may be abnormally vertical or upright, and the blood supply around the mass is often rich. Follicular thyroid carcinoma is mostly a very homogeneous high-echo mass with rich blood supply in B-ultrasound. However, the size of the mass, whether the boundaries are clear, whether the shape is regular, and whether there is an acoustic halo around the mass are not important indicators for judging whether the mass is malignant.

At present, it is more recommended to perform fine needle aspiration cytology (FNA) on lumps suspected of malignancy under B-ultrasound positioning. This method can further clarify the nature of the mass. However, since this examination is best performed under B-ultrasound positioning and has high requirements for physicians of cytological diagnosis, it cannot be popularized in China for the time being.

Generally, differentiated thyroid cancer often appears as cold/nodules in isotope scanning. However, isotope examination is not very useful in determining the nature of thyroid tumors.

If differentiated thyroid cancer is suspected to have lymph node metastasis or has invaded surrounding organs and tissues, such as the trachea, esophagus, and nerves and blood vessels, it is best to add CT or MRI examinations to understand the extent of lymph node metastasis and the degree of invasion of the tumor and the trachea, esophagus, nerves, and blood vessels, so as to facilitate the formulation of surgical plans and determine whether surgical resection is possible.